This is Belt-Tightening on Wall Street: Brown Bag Lunch on the Private Jet

Two years after the financial meltdown and the government rescue of major financial institutions, Wall Street is in cutback mode. Sort of.

This is what austerity looks like in the rarified world of Manhattan private schools and chauffeured cars, as Deal Journal colleague Robert Frank detailed today.

Wall Street types are flying commercial airplanes to winter getaways such as St. Barts or Aspen, or if they’re taking a private plane they are jet-pooling or skipping the pricey catered meals on board. “They’re telling me, ‘We’ll just bring our own lunch,‘” Ricky Sitomer, chief executive of private-jet company Blue Star Jets, told Frank.

Less splurging on Bentleys and other big-ticket items with those year-end bonuses. “We haven’t seen them come in yet,” said Jeff Drajin of Manhattan Motorcars, which sells Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Lotuses. [MORE]